Chicken producer wins one round, loses another

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario chicken farmer Henry Bos says he’s disappointed part of his appeal of provincial quota regulations and policies won’t be heard by the Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Appeal Tribunal.

In a Nov. 5 written decision, the tribunal says it won’t hear the Stevensville producer’s appeal of Chicken Farmers of Ontario quota allocation and assurance of supply policies brought in during 2005. But it will hear his appeal of Chicken Farmers’ policies implemented in 2009 that resulted in a moratorium on any new chicken processing contracts between Ontario farmers and out-of-province processors. Existing extra-provincial contractual arrangements, like the one Bos has, were grandfathered as part of the moratorium and not affected. Quebec also implemented a similar moratorium.

Bos, who sells his chicken production to processors in both Ontario and Quebec, says he received an inter-provincial licence from Chicken Farmers of Canada  (CFC) in 2004 that entitles him to sell as much of his production as he wants outside his home province. But Ontario and Quebec’s implementation of the moratorium nullifies his entitlement “in the licence that the CFC gives you.”

The provincial policy “stepped into the jurisdiction of the federal body, the Chicken Farmers of Canada,” he explains. He’s arguing Chicken Farmers of Ontario doesn’t “have the jurisdiction to issue provincial policies that interfere with a federal licence.”

Bos sells 20 per cent of his production in Quebec but the moratorium means he can’t ship any more than that amount or switch his Quebec processors even though he has a CFC licence entitling him to sell as much of his production as he wants outside Ontario.

As for the 2005 policies, Chicken Farmers argued the appeal shouldn’t be heard because Bos had knowledge of the policies for more than a year, he wasn’t sufficiently aggrieved and he didn’t have grounds. Bos was on the Chicken Farmers board when the 2005 policies were implemented.

Bos says there may be measures available to him to continue challenging the 2005 policies but he’s not going to pursue them. The tribunal made its decision and he accepts it.

Chicken Farmers of Ontario declined to comment.

The tribunal will hold another prehearing conference Dec. 13. BF